India's obsession with selfies and social media has reached a new low, with three road accident victims dying as onlookers took selfies and filmed videos on their phones instead of rendering aid.

Police have condemned the behaviour of bystanders, who watched without helping three men who were severely injured after their bike was hit by a school bus in the northern state of Rajasthan.

Photos circulating on social media and in the Indian press show people taking selfies as the injured men lay sprawled in pools of blood on the road.

The three men were all labourers at a concrete factory. A video posted on social media shows about a dozen men standing in a semi-circle watching the men — one writhing in pain and pleading for help — as they bled to death on the road.

One of the injured men died instantly in the accident, while the other two lay injured for half an hour before dying.

Local police say no-one attempted to render first aid or take the men to hospital.

Earlier this year, police were themselves the subject of criticism after two officers in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh refused to take two injured men to hospital in their police vehicle because they didn't want to get blood stains in the car.

Two teenage boys had been injured in a traffic accident and when two police officers arrived at the scene, their argument over whether to drive the injured teens to hospital was recorded by a bystander.

"It will stain our car," one police officer is heard saying in the recording.

"Your car can be washed but," says another voice in the video.

"When the car goes for a wash, where will we sit all night?" a police officer responds.

Both boys died at the scene.

Indians on Twitter condemned the latest incident, saying laws should be made to punish bystanders who do not help the injured.

A study published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction earlier this year reported that India also ranks number one in the world when it comes to the number of selfie-related accidents.